Grammar-Translation
Method (1890s-1930s): Around the turn-of-the-century,
language students often translated cumbersome volumes from Classical Greek or Latin into
English vía this approach. It consisted mainly of exhaustive use of
dictionaries, explanations of grammatical rules (in English), some sample
sentences, and exercise drills to practice the new structures. Little
opportunity for real second-language acquisition existed then.
Cognitive
Approach (1940s-1950s): This approach introduced the four
principle language skills for the first time: listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Oral communicative competence became the focus.
Comprehensible auditory input became important and speaking in the target
language began to occur. Learning about the language was
overemphasized.
Audio-Lingüal
Method
(1950s-1960s): With the advent and popularity of
audio tapes, this approach ushered in the first recordings wherein the
language learner could actually hear and mimic native speakers on
reel-to-reel audio tapes,
often used with earphones in a language lab setting. Lessons
often began with a sample dialogue to be recited and memorized. This was
followed up with substitution pattern and saturation drills in which the grammatical
structure previously introduced was reinforced, with emphasis given to
rapid fire student response. Repetition, substitution,
transformation, and translation became the order of the day. This method
was strongly influenced by B.F. Skinner's behaviorist view toward learning
which favored habit-forming drill techniques.
Unfortunately, most students couldn’t transfer these dialogues into their
own real-life experiences.
